Have you ever heard the name H.L. Mencken? He was an American journalist, satirist, essayist… and just about any other “ist” you can think of when it comes to writing. He is considered one of the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century. He once said, “There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers.”

It took me a good number of years of calling myself a writer before I really learned the lesson of those words. I would often declare a subject uninteresting and decide that nothing exciting could be written about it. I might begrudgingly take an assignment and only put minimal effort into it because I thought the subject was dull.

But I was wrong.

As time went on, and the more I learned about writing and my responsibilities as a writer (from books, courses, and some pretty harsh critics …), I changed my attitude and jumped on Mencken’s bandwagon. What makes a topic or subject interesting is the writer. And the tougher the challenges are to find interesting aspects of a seemingly uninteresting topic, the better writer you’ll become.

If you face what might seem like a dull topic, look at it from another perspective. Turn it upside down, inside out or 90 degrees to the left. Step away and look from afar. Step forward and look from within. Drop the attitude and adopt the courage to explore something you know little about. Then take your readers on that discovery mission with you.

When you bring curiosity to the writing table, you will always be presented with interesting and challenging subjects to write about.

No, the master networker is not me. However, I spent yesterday morning with a client-turned-friend of mine, VK, who is. Many, many (many) years ago I was her assistant when she was a fabulist. At that time she had just had her first book of fables published by Berkley-Putnam and needed help executing her marketing plan. A mutual acquaintance of ours introduced us and I spent several years watching and learning as she networked her way to ever-increasing sales and speaking opportunities. She has since moved on to developing another artistic venue that she has built into a highly respected and recognized entity in the healing arts—nearly every step of success came from her ability to network.

Seeing her this weekend, reminiscing about “then” and examining “now” reminded me of the great power of networking. Of the many things I learned, I’d like to share with you the top three networking tips that have helped me over the years: Read the rest of this entry

Many writers don’t have websites. Although I think every writer needs one, I get it. It takes time and some skills that you might not possess to create one. While you’re working up the nerve (and/or cash) to create an online presence with your own website, blogs are a great way to showcase your talent AND attract client work.

Here is a quick three-step plan to use a blog to win writing assignments:  Read the rest of this entry

My writing life has been a series of transitions and I’m guessing yours has been, too. Most of us are an eclectic bunch. We work with clients on various types of projects, from technical papers to promotional copy, to full-blown marketing and branding campaigns, to ghostwriting or editing book-length projects that span a wide range of topics from practical how-to nonfiction through highly creative works.

These days I spend the majority of my time as a ghostwriter for other book authors. It has opened me to subject areas I might never have explored on my own and it’s broadened my experience and my knowledge. It has been highly rewarding, both personally and professionally. And, yes, it’s quite profitable, too.

But here is something else I learned: unless you are a “preferred” ghostwriter hired by a publisher or agent who continually feeds you assignments for their signed authors, the majority of your clients are going to ask for your help getting published. And that little factoid opened another profit-filled opportunity for me to develop an ancillary service of writing agent-attracting book proposal packages.  Whether it’s for client book projects or your own, here’s how you can, too: Read the rest of this entry

What’s your New Year’s resolution? Lose weight? Stop smoking? Be more benevolent to others or understanding of your family’s annoying quirks?

It’s easy to make a resolution. What’s difficult is keeping it.

The only way to see a difference between this day and this day next year is to not only make a resolution but to answer the question, “how will I keep it?” How are you going to transform your resolution from a wish to a reality?

I’ll leave you to figure out if you will achieve your personal goals. But I want to encourage you to seriously make a writing resolution and put a plan in place to achieve it. Do you want to make more money? How about finding new clients? Perhaps you want to work for a company instead of on your own. Would you like to become a published author? Maybe you want to add a complementary service to offer clients you already have. Whatever your writing resolution is, here’s a quick five-step process to improve on the results: Read the rest of this entry